A group of former senior Jumia Kenya executives is set to unveil a new e-commerce startup, Kapu, on Monday 5th December in Nairobi.
The group, which is led by former Jumia Kenya CEO Sam Chappatte in a similar capacity, says that its mission is to bring down the cost of living for consumers in Kenya.
Chappatte left the online seller in 2021 after a 5-year stint and was replaced by Betty Mwangi, a former Director of Financial Services at Safaricom where she led M-Pesa services. Mwangi has since left Jumia and been replaced by Juan Seco, the company’s former Chief Financial Officer.
Kapu’s website is already live and has openings for sellers and agents.
Per the website, Kapu will operate on a business-to-consumer (B2C) model, much like what Kenyans know Jumia for.
Kapu is the Swahili word for “a large basket”.
The Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Kapu is Cyrus Onyiego who served in a similar capacity at Jumia Food, one of Jumia Kenya’s several arms. Stanislas Barth, the former Head of Offline Sales at Jumia, serves as the Head of Supply at Kapu.
Per an invitation sent to the press for their launch event, representatives from Microsoft and Meta (Facebook’s mother company), will be present.
This is not the first time that we have seen shifts in Kenya’s turbulent retail sector.
Former Tuskys Supermarket CEO Dan Githua banded up with Mauritian investors to set up Anko Retail, an e-commerce platform.
